Sam raised his free hand, and a spear of energy formed there. He thrust downwards, and it elongated into a beam of power that sliced into the city center. The roiling energy detonated, and invaders dropped like flies. However, the invasion force occupying such a large city would not be led by a bunch of weaklings, and soon after, a group of powerful fighters rose up into the sky to meet them. Sam’s strange, flickering teleportation aided flight seemed to confuse them. However, none of them mentioned it.

The strongest one was a beast of a man, almost a dozen feet tall and covered in bulging muscle. He wore no armor, revealing skin of a shockingly bright scarlet shade. The most arresting part about him however, was his singular eye.

“This is our city, filth!” He spat. “We claimed it, and I’ll be damned if I let some Rim dwelling rabble defeat me.”

“Rim dwelling rabble?” Sam said. “That’s a new one.”

“Indeed. I shall enjoy this greatly,” the Overlord said.

“The only thing you two will be enjoying is the solace of death. I don’t know what sort of artifacts you used to take out the elemental guardian, but that will not work here,” the enemy leader said, pulling out a crystal from his pocket. He then shattered it, sending a pulse of energy outwards. A notification greeted Sam.

All enchanted items and weapons up to Mid E Rank have been rendered inert. Nothing save for their natural durability may be accessed.

His hammer suddenly went dormant, and his armor as well. However, he did not care. All that had happened was the wasting of what was likely an incredibly valuable item, which would have no effect in the end.

“You are a fool,” the Overlord replied. “You assumed that we used artifacts.”

“Of course you did. That golem was E Rank-” The man’s words cut off as the Overlord pushed off his board of red energy, moving so fast that he created a vacuum where he had departed.

Red energy rushed up his arms, and into the body of the nearest alien, who he punched in the chest. There was a moment of shocked silence, and then the woman exploded, showering everyone in a rain of blood.

Then carnage ensued. Sam let his hammer fall, not bothering to clip it to his back. He hardly needed the weapon, not without access to its abilities. Besides he could not let the Overlord show him up in the regard of not needing artifacts to fight.

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He teleported forwards, aiming for the enemy leader. The red skinned brute reacted surprisingly quickly, but it was futile. His raised arms did little to block Sam’s immensely powerful attack, fueled by two thresholds of Strength, and the power of a Dao Seed. The attack blasted apart the man’s chest, and sent him flying backwards. Surprisingly enough, he was not dead yet, but his body was in ruins.

Sam did not bother following through, instead streaking across the loose array of fighters, reducing them to splinters of bone and clouds of blood in the blink of an eye. These fighters were barely Peak F Rank, and they hardly had the bonuses that Sam had. Likely, their stats were far lower in all regards.

Rather than anything else, this brought to his attention just how talented the Overlord must be to have gotten to this level without the absurd help that Sam’s Dao Heritage granted him. Sure, the man had one of his own, but that did not work in the same way as his, rather empowering a singular Dao path over all else. As the Dao was supposed to be the counterpart to the System, Sam was beyond overpowered with his abilities.

A few mages near the back of the loose alien collective channeled their elemental energy and mana into a ritual circle, but Sam did not let them finish, instead teleporting right between them, and sending out a pulse of Dao energy mingled with purified mana. The mages summoned shields, but those cracked before Sam’s might, and the aliens were shortly erased from existence.

As Sam fought, the Overlord quickly made short work of the remaining fighters, soon leaving only their leader, who was battered from Sam’s earlier attack. The man seemed incredulous of the pair facing him, and his face was twisted in rage and shock.

“What manner of hellhole planet is this? There is no way that any natives should have reached this level of power in a few months. Perhaps if this was the center of some multi planet spanning empire, but not a singular planet.”

“I guess we’re something special then,” Sam replied. “Any last words?”

“Last words? I believe you two are mistaken. I am the scion of the Athari Sect, a D Ranked organization. I will return soon, with higher ranked help. Your power breaks the boundaries imposed by the System. When that happens, its restrictions become mushy. Farewell, scum!”

The man snapped his fingers, clearly expecting for some artifact to activate. However, nothing happened. His face twisted in horror as he realized his stupidity. The artifact that he had used earlier blocked all others, meaning that he was stuck. Sam grinned, and crossed the gap in an instant, taking the man’s head off with a quick chop of his hand.

“Idiot,” he said, watching the corpse as it fell. He then held out one arm and summoned his weapon, which came hurtling up towards him, borne aloft by his weapon mastery and will. “What do you think about his threat?” He then asked the Overlord, turning to face the man.

“I believe him. Is this not a good thing though? Stronger enemies only means that we ourselves will grow stronger in turn.”

“I suppose. Well, if any E Rankers do end up coming to Earth, we will need to be at that rank ourselves. With Kane gone, it is down to us two to defend this planet, despite our personal differences.”

“Earth matters more than our squabbles. I agree.”